The Haunted House
by DreamedUp
Summary: For Imperial Mint. Happy New Year They said the house was haunted. Not a single word was heard from the place, not a sound. It was just too silent. What if during the Uchiha massacre Itachi made a mistake? ItaNaru.


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I was inspired by **Imperial Mint **and so this story is for her)))) Happy New Year, Bea))

Disclaimer: *cries hysterically* I own only my imagination... and cookies)

This is the first fic I had an inspiration for since the summer. Sorry guys) Well, there's also "Why", but it's shorty))) So, I'm sure I'll start finishing those other fics soon... I hope you like this fic too))) And Merry Christmass everyone)))))

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**The Haunted House**

They said the house was haunted. Not a single word was heard from the place, not a sound. It was just too silent. It was so silent you could almost feel the secret on your skin burning through it, getting to your bones and then to your soul. The air was too heavy to breathe; the silence was too heavy to listen.

People feared the house. It was too unbearable to look at it. When somebody did it was almost as if they felt physical pain the house was reeking. Nobody really knew what have happened then. People said that it was ghosts' work, others thought that it was something far more mystical, but the only thing every single person in the village knew was that ten years ago every single soul living in the place disappeared. But no blood, no proof of their mere existence was left – only the damp spot of an innocent child's tears that seemed not to dry out for a week after the mystery.

Uzumaki Naruto visited the house every month. Nobody actually knew why, but the teen was the only one who didn't fear the silence in the terrible place. Everything started when he was 12 and his class went to visit the mental hospital to show what war and shinobi world make to people if their spirit is not strong enough.

Children tried to communicate with men and women who lost too much but Naruto was drawn to the silent boy who sat in the corner. This child seemed to be of the same age as Naruto but in his eyes there was something too heavy to bear looking at. People around didn't like the boy's eyes – in fact they didn't like the deaf-mute kid at all.

His name was Kin Sasaki. He was an orphan, his parents died on the war, and so since the birth he lived in some orphanage. However nobody really knew why the boy was moved to the mental hospital when he was nine. Just for some reason the child stopped talking all at once and whenever somebody tried to touch him, he would flinch and cry. But he didn't hear either. Doctors suspected his hearing was damaged after some trauma as he did not indicate he heard anything they've been telling him, never reacted at anything at all. Only when a hand waved near his face would he flinch from it and look at the person with his heavy old eyes full of fear.

People thought the boy was abused, maybe even in a way no child should be in such an innocent age. Doctors however suspected that the boy fell from the tree or the wall and damaged some of his functions – he was found under a tree and near the wall after all.

That day Naruto went to talk to the mute boy. Nobody knows what happened between them, but the next day Uzumaki went to the haunted house and walked among the streets and gardens – filled with silence and the presence of void.

This was how it started.

Every month Naruto would come to the house and look around, search for the tear-stained spot on the heavy wooden floor and sit in the garden remembering something or other, dreaming of becoming Hokage and talking to the silent air, laughing and crying – whatever his soul needed to express.

Today Naruto wanted to tell the house how he became jounin and his friend finally passed the chuunin test. Naruto knew, the friend of his could do so much better, it's just he didn't have trust of the village.

But instead, Naruto was silent today. It was all just the same as it should be, but something was missing. Or there was something new…

The heavy dead silence was broken and instead somebody was breathing there.

"Who are you?" Naruto whispered. It was obvious the presence would hear him even if he whispered ever so quietly, though it was not clear if it would answer when he shouted.

Something shifted in the corner of the silent garden and Naruto ran to the place, searched every corner, every plant, every rock – no sight of the strange presence. It could be a bird or a bug for all Naruto knew, but something made him feel… feel the mysterious presence.

"Where are you?" he whispered again louder. No answer. He moved to the small street behind the house.

People called it a house for the past ten years, but in reality before the mystery happened, the place was called a district. It was just too scary to think that the whole living block of people vanished, or, to be precise, their souls were stolen, leaving their bodies undamaged and dead. Nobody ever wanted to think about it like that: it would make them fear something like that could happen to their family too. And that is completely unacceptable – such things only happen to cursed, evil people, and those families were cursed and evil - had to be.

Naruto chased the presence for an hour. He went from one house to another, searched every corner, from one street to other, never stopping, using all those skills he'd learned to pass the jounin exam, all those skills Kin taught him, always angry at Uzumaki's stupidity and naivety. All the time he could feel the presence almost succeeding to escape, however as if not doing it on purpose, leading the way from one place to another, showing some kind of horrible path.

Naruto stopped abruptly when he felt the presence nearing him. He was in the main building, as if the head family of the district lived here. He stayed frozen to the spot as he heard the door creak and then close shut in the hallway.

On some terribly strange and very close to sorrow feeling Naruto experienced from hearing that lonely creaking, he stayed where he stood. Time passed. He didn't know how much: maybe half an hour, maybe half of a night, but he heard the creaking again. And footsteps. The presence was slowly walking away and Naruto couldn't bring himself to want to stop it and find out what it was.

He entered the room the presence was in for a long time and found that it was a room without any furniture, moonlight shining through the big windows that were on his left. For some reason this room always made Naruto feel that terrible sensation of horror and grief. As if something unforgivable happened here, as if the whole process of soul-robbing happened exactly in this room, on the same spot, and Naruto went to find the spot where the tears of innocence escaping the child's spirit were dropped on the hard wooden floor ten years ago.

"I became a jounin" he said, but for some reason, the silence, suffocating and hard didn't comfort him this time, though it used to do so, when Naruto felt especially lonely, when Kin would come to him full of heavy silence this place had within itself, but so different in the mute boy's eyes. The silence of the district was always so… welcoming… As if only Naruto could understand how painful it was to live with a monstrous burden inside his soul. This was not Kin's silence. It was someone else's.

But this silence wasn't right anymore. Some presence, this strange owner of the silence was here, almost talking to Naruto, breaking it. The teen – almost a man – wanted to see the eyes of the presence.

So Naruto didn't continue talking about the important things that happened in his life. It didn't feel right.

He went home that night.

The next day Kin, Sakura Kakashi and Naruto were sent to some mission, dangerous one, A-rank. Everybody feared that Kin will do something strange, they still thought he was unstable. Even Naruto. However he was the only one to trust the mute boy to control himself, especially in the critical moments on missions. He'd usually come to Naruto's place after the mission and have a hysterical fit, crying, screaming, hitting Naruto, hitting the wall, breaking everything he could see and then fall to the ground and let the tears fall silently on the carpet.

Naruto didn't mind. No, not at all. After all, it was the only way of letting that crushing pain out of the boy's body, and throughout the years Naruto could see the progress in Kin's psychological state. He was feeling better, pain was reducing and just the previous month Kin indicated he wanted to see _him_.

It's as if he started forgiving the man for hurting him so much, for violating his soul, abusing his innocence and disappearing from his life. Both him and Naruto believed _ he_ was still alive, though nobody saw the man ever again, but Kin hoped and Naruto felt: the person that made Kin become Kin – the death-mute unstable boy, whom a friend, the Nine-tailed Demon Fox's vessel, took out of the nuthouse, using his friendship with the Sandaime Hokage, but whom Kin so desperately wanted to forgive must be alive.

Nobody, even Kakashi or Sakura ever knew of what Naruto knew about Kin's past. But he preferred to leave it in past as it was, they lived in present, and must dream about future, and that's what he always told Kin, and with time the silent boy understood.

The mission was extremely dangerous, as they found out later, maybe even higher than A-ranked, but that was unpredicted. The Akatsuki turned up. The two of them were extremely powerful and only when Kin used the secret technique only Naruto knew about, they managed to kill them… Deidara and Sasori almost managed to succeed in capturing the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi.

Kakashi saw the power and approached Kin. But the boy was silent as usual.

"It's something that should stay a secret, Kakashi-sensei, I hope you understand" Naruto said.

Kakashi knew how close Naruto was to Kin and always respected it. He always respected Naruto's love to his friends – all of them: it was something he hadn't at some point in time and now regretted. Naruto reminded him of Obito. And of Minato-sensei. Both were dead and so the son of the Fourth Hokage was the only living creature that would remind him of those days when everybody was alive.

He promised to never speak of what he found out.

As for Naruto and Kin, they went to the bar, as usual, after missions. It was so much easier for the silent teen to let the stress out when he was drunk: much more less of furniture destroyed and much less bruises on Naruto's body.

Kin would always apologise after the hysterics was gone. And Naruto would always just say that it's a stupid thing, really, that he needn't to say sorry.

The next day was heavy and dark with responsibility. Kakashi took Kin to some special training and Naruto was left alone to deal with his own silence. Of course, there always was Sakura, who could help to loosen up, but their physical relationship didn't have anything to do with the spiritual one: they were just friends, that's it. And Naruto didn't want a friend right now.

But what did he want?

He decided to go to the house again. It was quite dark, as it always was when Naruto came to the place and the silence was pleasantly heavy again. The sensation of safety and understanding almost made him forget the previous time he was here. Almost.

This time Naruto went straight to the dreary room. But before he could open the door he felt it. The strange sensation of fear and anticipation, his legs tensing and the whole body weakening for a split second. Just for a second. He regained his composure and opened the door.

It was dark, as it always was, it was heavy as usual, the moonlight was shining from the windows on his left like it always did, but something was out of place.

It was this sense of somebody's presence again. Further in the room, where it was too dark to see a person's face, there was a body standing. Naruto could feel the eyes looking at him and felt the shudder up his spine.

"I became a jounin last month." He spoke out loud. It seemed wrong to ask the person who he was or to show their face. Somehow he felt acknowledgement from the other presence in the room. Why? Because he was let to be with the person in the same room, he was acknowledged as worthy of keeping the secret.

"It was so great! I never thought it would be so easy. I always talk about how cool I am, but you know how it is: you're doing this just to reassure yourself, and at the time I was too insecure to let even Kin know that I'm scared." Somehow the flow of emotions was transferring from Naruto to the room, filling it with something sacred, and Naruto found he couldn't stop himself, he wanted to tell the person of the stupid little things that most likely wouldn't interest him.

"I always wanted to become Hokage. But nobody ever believed in me. Except for Kin maybe, in his own twisted way. He, Kin is such a pain sometimes. Of course, he's a friend of mine, but his ways of telling the truth are too… painful, yeah. But he's still a great friend. Heh, nobody would ever have guessed that the unstable deaf-mute boy is more stable than all of them. Seriously, I don't know how I would have continued living with the knowledge that… in the age of nine somebody hurt me like that. That would be too much for me probably. And Kin just stopped talking to everyone. Well, he talks to me, but the rest think he's deaf-mute. And you know… it's so much fun to bicker with him sometimes." Naruto already wasn't thinking what he was telling the other, well, almost not thinking, he just felt so much better when he felt that not the silence was listening to him, but the owner of it was. There was no doubt that this person was the owner of the silence and maybe even the house itself. And somehow it felt so right to tell this person his most sacred thoughts, so right to laugh in their presence, to cry, to shout.

"He's really strong, you know. It's as if that… incident didn't break him, but made him stronger. He still is in pain, and… and it's so difficult to look him in the eyes sometimes, but…" Naruto started whispering as it became difficult to pronounce the words with the tears blocking his throat, but he swallowed loudly and continued with a determined cheerful voice. "But he's getting better, and some day he will be able to forgive and forget, yeah. I know it for sure!"

"And what about yourself" came the murmur from the darkness. Naruto smiled and sat on the floor.

"So, you're definitely male. I can hear it from your voice. Sorry, slipped out, old habits of telling everything I think about… well… what about myself… Oh yeah, I became a jounin and it's so great! I am now very close to becoming Hokage, and then… then the village will HAVE to acknowledge me, that's for sure! They will have no other choice but to see I'm not the monster that lives inside of me. They will see I'm absolutely different."

"But is forcing your opinion on the others fair?" came the quiet murmur from the person hidden in the shadow.

Naruto smiled. "Well… it's not that I'll be forcing them to think so… I just want everyone to see, I'm not the Kyuubi. I, personally, am an absolutely different person. That's what I want people to see. I'm not saying I'm good or bad… I'm just not the monster, that's it."

Silence fell between the two, the same heavy one, that seemed to live in this district forever.

"You know… I always thought I was the only one understanding this silence. That's why I come here every month… It's as if spending a night inside myself, where there is no judgment of the world around me… no people calling me a useless idiot… no friends looking at me with their heavy old eyes that have seen their own death… No!" Naruto suddenly shouted. "I don't blame Kin! I don't! In fact, I was the one to take him out of the nuthouse, to make him want to live again! I don't regret that! It's just… it's just sometimes… I can't stand to see his misery… other people's misery is… painful…"

"So you choose to wallow in your own misery instead? Pathetic" the quiet voice stated.

"It's not as if I'm doing it all the time, just once in a month! Besides…" Naruto shouted. "besides, you're doing just the same thing, you know…"

The dark figure didn't answer and so Naruto looked on the wooden floor. Just a few meters away from him, right where the moonlight lit the room, there was the sacred spot of a child's tears. Just a blot, nothing more… but still…

The two of them… they were in the sacred place, the sacred room, filled with Naruto's memories and the stranger's misery, loath towards himself, hate. They both shared a burden, they both felt the same pain. It's just that the stranger's pain was stronger. It was as if the house, the whole district now only belonged to the two of them, as only they were able to understand the mystery in it.

But for the man in the shadow, this mystery was a burden. For Naruto it was the reassurance.

They stayed silent for the rest of the night. The stranger only once uttered a question:

"Do you regret anything in your life?"

But Naruto didn't answer.

"Don't. Or you'll end up like me, wallowing in self-pity, lost in my past and unable to be called by my name, as now I'm not what I used to be ten years ago. I'm not worth of calling myself by my name. I don't even know what I really am anymore. Don't regret anything in your life. And Kin… don't regret helping that boy. Even if you think you made it worse, you're wrong." The person whispered and fell silent again.

When the moon disappeared and the first morning birds sang their song, the man stood up. His face, his clothes – all was hidden in the darkness, as the moon wasn't replaced by the sun yet, and the person opened a window.

In the small moment before the stranger disappeared, Naruto caught a glimpse of the dark hair and those eyes… full of guilt.

He came back to his apartment and cooked himself some ramen.

The next few months flew by quickly: nothing unusual. Kakashi training them a lot, Sakura trying to make fun out of Kin but receiving the death-glare instead of a good joke, Sakura again looking with love hearts in her eyes at Neji, Neji talking to Naruto about random stuff and telling him, how his clan is more democratic now, Lee shouting about youth, Kiba bark, Akamaru agree, Hinata blush and the rest daily routine. The first month after the meeting with the stranger, the man didn't appear. Though it was probably, because Naruto chose the different date. The next time they met, they were silent all along, Naruto almost falling asleep in the room, but then waking up and laughing at his own stupidity.

"You know, I never really laugh at myself. You're making me do strange things" he said and got himself the chuckle from another man. It was short and it was almost impossible to hear, but Naruto couldn't help the smile that appeared on his face as he felt the pride of making the owner of the silence chuckle because Naruto said a stupid thing.

And then there was this mission…

It was A-rank and it was single. Naruto had to go spy on some area in the Water Country, where people noticed something strange. There was a possibility that the Akatsuki might be linked to the place, but that was highly unlikely. That was why they were sending Naruto, even though he was the last Jinchuuriki to the place – Konoha believed in the power of the teen. He was a skilled and respected jounin now, not a stupid genin kid, and he was friends with the kid nobody believed would live up till 15, not talking about 19. They all though Kin would commit suicide.

Naruto should have been proud. Instead he felt as if nothing really happens at all. All this time he waited for the people to acknowledge him, he thought once they do, it'll change his entire life… but instead, here he is with people's faith and acknowledgement thrust in his arms, and life continues just the way it used to.

Naruto was at the place in three days.

It was a giant cave and people gossiped they heard strange noises in there, as if a cry or sometimes a whisper. People thought it was the ghost.

Konoha assumed it can be a place where Akatsuki held their hostages and tortured them. Naruto could only feel the same heavy silence around the place that was in the district back in Konoha, the silence, that belonged to _him_.

Naruto entered the cave ever so carefully. His task was to look if that was an Akatsuki organization and if it wasn't then retrieve, but the place was too obvious for the Akatsuki to use, and he didn't feel any chakra… except for one. He met it already. In that district.

It's not as if Naruto was breaking the rules or anything. He just hasn't seen _him_ for a whole month. It wouldn't be against rules if a ninja after completing the mission on the way back visits an old friend, would it?

"Who's there?"

Naruto stopped frozen. For a second it seemed the voice wasn't the stranger's from the district.

"You know me" he answered. The cave was quite big inside, Naruto could see the place where the man had been making a fire, the small rock that looked almost like a table and the pile of grass and leaves, probably used for a bed. The cave went further in though, so possibly the man used to wander around in there in complete darkness, probably, spending the weeks there, without seeing sunlight.

"How did you find me?"

Naruto went to the place where the fire used to be and took some branches from the pile nearby. He took out the matches and lit the small fire.

"It's pretty cold here. I hope you don't mind" he smiled into the darkness where he assumed the man stood.

"I was on the mission, they thought your hiding place was Akatsuki's hideout. So I was sent to investigate" Naruto sat closer to the warmth of the fire and stretched his arms.

"Don't worry, I'll keep it a secret" he said not looking to the dark figure, whose silhouette was seen now, as the campfire lit the cave.

"Oh, by the way, I figured we still don't know each others' names. I'm Naruto Uzumaki. You don't need to tell me yours if you don't want to" Naruto smiled to the figure.

The man didn't respond. They stayed silent for a period of time, when Naruto only listened to the wood's crackling and the other was not moving.

Then something strange happened. The man stepped closer. And then closer. And finally, Naruto could see the clothes he was wearing, the katana he seemed to carry with him at all times and the most important thing: he could see the other's face.

The man was young. Although his eyes might confuse you, his face was of a man not older than twenty-five years. He had black, almost brown hair, that went lower than his shoulders and was gathered in a pony-tail. His eyes were also black but somewhat greyish. On his cheeks there were two deep scars, symmetrical to each other.

On his forehead was a protector with a symbol of the Leaf Village, crossed out.

The man sat near Naruto and after some time spoke:

"I'm Itachi Uchiha."

Naruto smiled.

"I knew that"

Itachi's eyes widened but he stayed silent. It was fine with him for now. Whatever the other man said, he didn't feel it was necessary to hide the information from him.

"So, Naruto… tell me about your month" Itachi asked and Naruto grinned so hard it seemed the boy's lips would rip any second.

"You never asked me to do that before, why such a change?" Itachi only shrugged.

"It felt boring not to say or listen to anything on our second meeting, Naruto-kun"

And so Naruto told him the stupidest details, the funniest things, the most hilarious blushes Hinata had when looking at Naruto, that Kin had hots for Sakura and that Sakura probably felt the same way, but was scared to approach the boy. Those things weren't important, they weren't bothering Naruto's sleep with horrible dreams or making him shudder when nobody looked, no. But these things would amuse Itachi, Naruto's new friend, whom he wanted to make laugh, because Itachi's eyes were too serious.

These meetings continued. Once a month Itachi would come to the district and ask Naruto the same question, how was his life, and then two weeks later Naruto would go visit Itachi in the cave, telling just the same old jokes, cooking ramen and making the man go for a walk in the forest surrounding the cave.

"So, what will you tell me today, Naruto?"

Although sometimes it seemed not right to talk when the other was silent.

"I… don't know… Don't really have anything interesting to tell at the moment" Naruto smiled and rubbed the back of his head.

"What about your friend, Kin was it? Did he ask this… Sakura out?"

"Maybe you should be the one to tell me stuff today?" Naruto grinned and sat back on the "bed". Itachi, however stiffened, reluctant to talk.

Finally, he decided, that it would only be fair if he told something about himself. The boy in front of him entertained him just too much to deny him such an innocent curiosity.

"What would you like to know, Naruto?" he asked, trying to avoid presenting the topic by himself.

"Well… I don't know… what do you do when I'm not trying to make you laugh, or… tell be about your siblings! Yeah!" Naruto looked at Itachi with enthusiasm but the other seemed frozen.

"Why do you think I would have any siblings, Naruto?" he asked reluctantly. The other answered quickly.

"Well, you're acting so superior and mature and everything, Kin told me it can be the sign that you're a brother, besides you look like you have a sibling!" Naruto smiled and laughed.

"I… don't have a brother"

Naruto looked at the other a bit stunned but quickly returned to the state of cheerfulness.

"Then you had one. Come on! Tell me!"

"It's not something I would like to talk about, Naruto" Itachi replied coldly. Naruto, however, didn't get the hint.

"Oh come on! Don't be shy! Or embarrassed! Seriously, I can tolerate everything so long as you didn't kill your bro" he laughed at his own joke. Even though Naruto's words were absolutely illogical and quite not really having anything to do with persuading Itachi to spill the information, Uchiha didn't even notice, instead his voice became like ice and his answer quite scary, as if he was angry, but hid it.

"Well, actually I did kill my brother"

For a whole minute nobody talked, both diving into the tensed silence, that pressured onto their mind hard. Then suddenly Naruto shifted and stood up.

"Let's go for a walk in the forest" he stated, not asked, and went outside. Itachi felt like he didn't really have any other choice but to follow.

"If you wish…" he said into the silence to nobody and went to the other's side.

They walked for a long half hour between the tree trunks and branches until they reached the lake.

"So, tell me about your brother"

Itachi looked at the other, taken aback, but not too surprised.

"Naruto, listen-"

"I'm listening, Itachi. I've been talking for a year, and now it's your turn. You killed your brother, tell me how it happened, why it happened. And please don't tell me the stuff like I have no right to pry it out of you or that it pains you to talk about it. Because I'm not prying and you're thinking about the whole thing all the time, how can it hurt to talk about it?"

"If you're not prying than what exactly are you doing?" Itachi replied angry.

"I want to help-"

"I don't need your help! I've never asked you to help me in any way!" Itachi shouted now, unable to remain calm.

"Oh, but you did, Itachi." Naruto whispered. Itachi looked at the other, his eyes lit up with question and fury. "Don't you remember?"

Itachi stayed unmoving, looking tensely in the other's eyes.

"The first time we met… no, the second. You wouldn't have returned to that place at the same day as before just like that, risking meeting an enemy, or some curious idiot. I wasn't an enemy, Itachi, and remember that first day, when you went in that room and I stayed in the hallway, I wasn't prying. It was you who let me in, it was you who asked me for help, and now I'm helping you!" Naruto looked at the forest floor, then turned to face the lake. "You can ask me to leave and not help and I will do so. But until then I'm not giving up"

Itachi stayed silent while the boy went to the bank of the lake and sat on the ground. Minutes passed and nobody talked. Finally, Uchiha moved to sit on the left side of the boy.

"It was an order"

Naruto met the black eyes of the other man.

"Uchiha clan was one of the most well-known in the Fire Country. We lived in Konoha. In that district that you visited every month." Naruto didn't try to interrupt, nor did he look shocked or sympathetic. It seemed as if he knew the story already, but of course, that's impossible. Naruto stayed silent while Itachi told him the story of Madara and the first Hokage, of the coup Uchihas planned and of the order, given out by Danzou.

"But why did you kill your brother?" the boy asked.

"Sasuke… my brother… I killed him, because otherwise his life would be miserable… his life would only be a shadow of the real one… by the age of 16 nothing would be left of his soul – just a shell of the child I remembered him as… You know, I told him the whole story right there, on the street, among the dead bodies… and I cried… and he looked so scared and… almost sympathetic… idiot! I was about to kill him and he was sympathizing me… I killed him… just… put a kunai though his chest… that's it."

The next time Naruto was in Itachi's cave they talked about the boy's – Sasuke's death again.

"Imagine, what would happen if you never killed him. Come on, let's imagine! You can do it, and I can! Here, I brought the paper and pencil, you can draw Sasuke to me, so it would be easier to imagine! Come on!" Naruto seemed cheerful and enthusiastic. Itachi, however was reluctant.

Eventually, though, he was made to agree, as Naruto wouldn't stop blabbering and a minute of peace while Itachi drew his brother on the sheet of paper was worth it.

"So, tell me, if you left him alive what would you do?"

Itachi remembered the day he planned it all out, how he would make Sasuke stronger.

"I would… threaten Danzou not to touch Sasuke, or I'll tell all Konoha's secrets to the other countries…"

"What would you tell Sasuke?" Itachi looked at the teen surprised. That boy seemed to know every single detail!

"I would tell him, I killed them all just to find out if I could. I would tell him about the secret technique of our clan and tell him that in order to get it you have to kill your closest friend. I would tell him to run for his life now, while he's weak and come try killing me, when he's strong enough and with that technique. Then I would leave"

"What would you do, when you left?"

"I would join Akatsuki and pretend I'm on their side"

"And because you were from Konoha, they would send you to bring me to them, right?"

"Probably"

"I remember the first time I met with Akatsuki. It was after Orochimaru messed up the chuunin exam when I was 12 or 13… I don't remember. The Third was badly hurt, and eventually he died, and Orochimaru got away. I was with Jiraya, so Akatsuki weren't successful in kidnapping me. If they ordered you to bring Jinchuriki, what would you do?"

"Since the third died, I would pretend I went for you, but in reality I would remind Danzou, I'm still there, so that I'm still interested in Sasuke's well-being."

"If Sasuke was alive, he would be my friend"

Itachi looked incredulously at the teen, the statement was completely illogical. How could Naruto be so sure about such a fact?

"If Sasuke was alive and he was your brother, then he would be at the top of the class. Everyone would call him a genius, and praise him and everything. I remember my school grades. I was at the bottom. I was a failure, no matter how hard I tried to succeed. I was alone. And Sasuke would probably be. And this would make me want to be close to him. But him being the best and me the loser, him thinking only about his revenge on you, I would envy him and think of him as my rival. In the team we'd be together too. To balance out the group. Eventually we'd come to some kind of rivalry… where it is unimportant who really wins. A rivalry to hide the friendship. And then you would come into Konoha, presumably "to catch me" but in reality just to demonstrate power. And Sasuke would find out about you. What would he do, and what would you do, Itachi?"

"He would try to find me and then fight me. But at that time he wouldn't be ready to fight me just yet… so I would demonstrate him how much stronger I am… I would play on the hatred of the boy and manipulate him to seek more power."

"He'd probably be with Orochimaru's seal already, you know"

Itachi looked questioningly at the other. This teen was beginning to mystify him. How could he know such things?

"I'm sure Orochimaru would want Sasuke's body, since he had the Sharingan and everything, and so ever since the chuunin exam his seal would be on Sasuke, tempting him"

"I killed Orochimaru a couple of years ago"

"But you would be in Akatsuki, right? You wouldn't have time to go around killing Orochimaru, when you have Jinchuurikis to catch" Ok, the boy was too clever! This was strange! How could he know those things… Itachi at least though the boy wasn't the one who got the logical stuff easily. "So eventually, Sasuke would leave Konoha"

"Yes, that would be inevitable"

"But I wouldn't just let him leave! Sasuke, my rival, my best friend, leaving me, casting me by, the only one, whose acknowledgement would be important for me, just forgetting me? No, I would be furious and I would bring him back!"

"You wouldn't be able"

"Why is that?" The teen looked at the other, offended, but Itachi continued.

"He would be too strong. Orochimaru's seal would give him advantage"

"I have Kyuubi!"

"Dangerous"

"I'd risk anything for a friend"

"But he wouldn't think of you as of a friend, Naruto. No, not even that. He would think of you as of the best friend, of the closest person, and to get Mangekyuu Sharingan, that I would have told him about, you need to kill the person, closest to you. He would then kill you, Naruto"

"No, he wouldn't"

Itachi stayed silent. This teen seemed to know exactly how everything would happen, even more than Itachi himself.

"He wouldn't kill me, because I'm his friend. He would talk about killing me throughout our fight, but in the end he wouldn't be able. He would knock me out, yes, but I would also prove my strength. And he wouldn't kill me. He'd just leave"

"And what would you do then?"

Naruto smiled and put his hand on his forehead protector, moving it upwards a little.

"That's a stupid question. I would train hard and bring him back eventually!"

"That would be a stupid thing to do"

"But I wouldn't listen to people who told me that. That's my way of ninja! So I would train… probably a couple of years-"

"-And Sasuke would still have no Mangekyuu" Itachi didn't even notice when he started to participate in this game of what would have happened. Moreover, he didn't even notice Naruto never asked anything about Sharingan and Mangekyuu.

"Well, Sasuke would be stubborn and want to defeat you his own way"

"You wouldn't be able to bring him back until he killed me"

"Yes, that would probably be true. But I would try anyway"

"You would suffer"

"I would suffer"

"You would make him suffer"

"You sure? He would probably talk about breaking bonds"

"Yes, he would. But you know, he would probably lie to himself in some aspects"

"Yeah, maybe"

"And eventually, the time would come, and he would kill me"

"You'd just let him kill you?"

"I would put up a fight… probably I'd want to erase that cursed seal somehow… and then I would transfer some techniques to Sasuke that would secure him from Madara"

"Madara?"

"He knows the story, he would want to manipulate Sasuke"

"But, surely it wouldn't be enough, right?"

"Yes"

"Then, what would you do?" Itachi thought for a minute.

"I'd gift you, Naruto with my power"

"Why me?"

"Because you would be able to protect Konoha, but not kill Sasuke"

"Why do you have so much confidence in me? Why would I be able to choose?"

"That's exactly what it is: you wouldn't want to choose. You wouldn't kill Sasuke but save Konoha"

"But what would there be left out of Sasuke, Itachi? What? Even if I could make him stop, he would live with the hatred towards the village, with pain, with guilt! He wouldn't be able to forgive himself, Itachi! He would be dead inside, he wouldn't want to live! That wouldn't be the friend I wanted to bring back to Konoha!" Naruto started to shout. "He would be just a shell! He would be miserable! He wouldn't live, but just exist! Isn't it human to prevent such sufferings? Don't you think it would be awful to make your brother grow up too soon?! Don't you think he would be dead after that day ten years ago anyway?"

"But he would have a chance!" Itachi shouted. Naruto was repeating all that Itachi thought about, trying to justify himself all those years and unable to do it. Naruto was a fool to think something like that, and Itachi won't let it be like that. "My brother would have a chance! No, it is not human to take away a person's life just because it would be miserable in the end! Sasuke deserved to live this life through, however terrible it would be, but He. Would. Live!"

Silence, deafening their ears appeared in the cave, while Itachi looked Naruto in the eye, and the other wasn't even guilty for his words. He wasn't looking guilty. He should be guilty. He should feel guilty for just thinking such a thing! Itachi realized how wrong he was the moment his brother's heart stopped beating. That night he escaped and later on found out his murder was covered up and everything was cleaned from blood. Only the spot where Sasuke cried in the room of their parents darkened. And Itachi couldn't bear such a guilt. He couldn't kill himself, for he didn't deserve death, but he couldn't live on. So he chose to exist in the stupid cave, coming back to the district only once a year… until Naruto appeared.

But the teen wasn't feeling any guilt!

Itachi hit him in the chest, knocking out the breath, hit him in the stomach, hit his face, but the boy was silent.

"Why don't you feel guilty for your words?!" he asked quietly.

"Because I didn't mean them" was the quiet breathless reply. Itachi was confused and angered. But he couldn't bring himself to hit the other again.

"Then why did you say those words if you didn't mean them?"

"Because I wanted you to contradict me" Naruto answered quietly. Nothing else needed to be said. It was simple, really. Itachi never really said it out loud before. Never showed anyone how much he suffered. And this boy… no, he's not a boy, he's a man already. This man knew what Itachi needed to confess to himself.

"You are a fucking manipulator, Naruto"

Half of the month later Itachi was in the district, as usual, waiting for Naruto to run in there, fill the ever so boring silence with his talks about his day, his life that he won out of desperation's clutches.

Strangely, but Naruto was coming late. Itachi couldn't wait for some reason. Two weeks were just too many, and Uchiha felt he missed the other's voice and smile.

It was strange to miss him, but he did. He was even ready to talk about whatever Naruto would ask him, just to hear the other talking back. Itachi wasn't even scared of the other judging him for the most terrible things he had done. After all, he was Naruto, it wasn't that bad to be judged by him.

But strangely, Uzumaki wasn't in the district yet.

Itachi couldn't wait. Naruto was late on purpose!

"Fine! Then I'll talk to myself!" Itachi mumbled and looked into the darkness of the district. Somewhere on the horizon could be seen a lightning and some red and blue glow.

"I couldn't wait for the two weeks to pass. Strange. I should have been angry with Naruto for making me say so much. But instead… even though I don't want to talk about my past I want to see him. And…" the lightning was there again and the red glow disappeared. Instead there was a shiny blue glow, the sky looked beautiful with it. "And Naruto… I don't know what…" Suddenly the red glow reappeared again and it took Itachi a second to register it. And then realization came crushing down on him. "Naruto… oh God"

It was that river not far from the village – they were fighting there: Naruto, Kin, Sakura and Kakashi against Pein and Madara.

And they were losing.

The last thing Naruto could register was Sakura's scared eyes and Kin's hand trying to shake him into sanity.

"Sakura…" Naruto coughed. "run!" and then he lost control.

It seemed a disaster when Itachi came to the battlefield. Everything there was torn, a man – he vaguely remembered him – was lying on the ground unconscious, a girl with pink hair was by the man's side, a boy calling out "Naruto! Fight it! You moron!".

And there was no Naruto. There was a body consumed by the chakra of the beast. Four tails could be seen.

Madara was not far away, his Sharingan seeking to meet the Demon's eyes, but failing while the boy fought with himself for control. All of Pein's bodies lay dead, mutilated and burnt.

He needed to do something and immediately. That boy beside him was somehow helping his friend, but without Sharingan… Mangekyuu Sharingan he won't be able to bring Naruto back to consciousness.

Not looking at the other, Itachi jumped to his side, his eyes concentrating on the boy, whose body was almost controlled by the Demon Fox.

"I will take care of him, you go deal with Madara. I can see, he's weakened"

He could hear the boy's gasp, but didn't break contact with the most important person for him now. It was strange somehow: this feeling… he hardly registered when had something with his feelings to the boy change, when did he start feeling so… _attached_ to the teen that tried so hard to save him from darkness. Somehow, he just started waiting for the meetings they had. And the longer they knew each other, the more Itachi seemed to become impatient when it came to waiting for the next meeting. And their last encounter was… painful but somehow relieving. This was what Itachi never dreamt for or wanted to happen: an opportunity to forgive himself for being too weak, for being a coward.

And just in those ten minutes when Itachi ran to the place where Naruto and his friends were fighting the Akatsuki had been filled with dread. Absolute dread and panic. Like when he killed his own parents and Sasuke.

But now was not the time to ponder.

"Mangekyuu Sharingan" and in a flash it all was over.

To be honest, Itachi didn't expect to wake up in a hospital. To be completely honest, he didn't expect to wake up at all.

Kyuubi was not a creature you can underestimate. To tame it is one thing, to stay alive afterwards is a completely different matter. Itachi clearly knew he wasn't of the level when you stay alive afterwards. Madara in his years of glory was capable. But it was a long time ago, now he was just a shell of his former being, and he was sure the boy with the strength of postponing the breaking of the seal that kept Kyuubi inside Naruto, could kill the weakened Madara. Probably the boy was the legendary Kin, Naruto talked so much about. But it wasn't a very important thing right now, since the only question that could be important was "Why am I stil alive?".

Itachi's mind, however, was a lazy being at the moment, so it didn't care for whether some unimportant question was important or not. It just wandered, bringing out some vague memories, questions, ambitions, though abandoning those the second some other thought popped into Itachi's consciousness, which later on also would disappear.

He opened his eyes grudgingly, lazily and immediately realized, he couldn't see anything.

When Naruto opened his eyes, Kin was somewhere fighting Madara. Sakura was still with Kakashi, trying to bring him back to consciousness. It was difficult to stand up, but gradually Naruto did and looked around. He remembered he lost control.

Itachi, lying on the ground nearby, unconscious, Naruto, however, didn't remember him appearing on the battlefield.

Sitting in the hospital waiting room he could recall only the fragments of what happened next: nearly dying during the fight with his greatest enemy, helping Kin to walk to the hospital, meeting the rescue team that came too late. But only one thing was vivid – fear. Fear that Itachi was dead. Or worse: fear that Itachi died saving Naruto. Or maybe Naruto had killed him, when the Nine-tailed beast took over his consciousness.

Each thought was terrible and Naruto didn't know what to do with his hands, that trembled on his lap, while he sat in the hospital waiting room, dreading to know what was going on behind the door to the operation room.

Then Kin came to and Naruto rushed to his room.

"He's probably going to die, if not dead yet, you know" that was what Kin told him when Naruto started talking about Itachi. "He was the one to bring you back to sanity. When did the two of you meet?"

"A year ago" Naruto looked away. "Sorry for not telling you. I needed to get to know him first"

Kin chuckled and for a second his face lit up with the rare happiness. "You're overprotective"

When Tsunade told him Itachi survived Naruto was overjoyed and relieved.

He waited for him to wake up for hours but when he finally did, Naruto didn't know what to say.

Finally, Itachi stated with a hint of astonishment in his voice: "I'm blind". Naruto exhaled loudly and chuckled. "You're alive though" he said. Silence followed, though neither of them wanted it, they couldn't find anything to say.

"Why did I survive" Itachi finally asked.

"Well, you probably underestimated your own powers. Tsunade says-"

"Tsunade? Am I in Konoha?" Itachi's voice sounded weak now.

"Yes. Old Hag was furious, but you know me, nobody can resist my charm, so she agreed to not arrest you, if I take full responsibilities for your actions" Itachi could hear the air shatter while Naruto gesticulated actively.

"People won't be happy if they see an S-class criminal walking on the streets though" he said.

"People? Oh please! Itachi, people still think that all the massacre thing happened because some ghost stole the Uchiha clan's souls. They won't even recognize you. Like Kin" Naruto laughed and said he needed to talk to the 'old hag' about the Elders and Danzou, because those would probably protest.

He was left alone but couldn't sleep. Sudden awareness of somebody's presence made him still and hold his breath.

"Hi, brother" was what the other person in the room said and Itachi thought he was hallucinating. The voice was strong, masculine, mature, but somehow Itachi knew that it belonged to Sasuke.

"You can't be real" he said out loud. "I remember killing you"

"You actually missed the heart and didn't even see that." The voice was suffocating and Itachi wished he could see, just to make sure that the boy was indeed standing there. "You were probably unable to look at me for long. You put a kunai a little higher, just underneath the shoulder. I still have the scar there"

Sasuke was talking coldly. His voice was strained. Itachi could hear it and still couldn't believe he was hearing it.

They didn't know what to say. And then Naruto burst into the room, happy and loud, telling something about how he courageously looked the elders in the eye and they cowered under his intense gaze.

"Oh, Kin, I didn't know you were here!" he said surprised. And then it hit him. He gaped at his friend and looked between the two. "You sure you two can talk just yet?" he asked and when Sasuke nodded, he left the room.

Itachi chuckled.

"So Naruto knew?"

"Of course he did." Sasuke answered a little relieved after hearing Itachi chuckle. "When I was twelve he was the only one who bothered to try and talk. And so I did. I told him what…" he paused to take a deep breath. "what happened that night, and then he probably went straight to the Third and used his 'irresistible charm'. That's how I was allowed to train with him. We created a legend for others who were curious: I was raped at the age of nine" He paused and then whispered hesitantly "Pretty much the same thing, huh"

Itachi laughed humorlessly. Yes, indeed, it was not far from truth. It damaged Sasuke to the same degree.

"But…" in Sasuke's voice he heard something strained but emotional nonetheless. "you know… with time and of course Naruto… I came to a realization that I want to forgive you…"

And Itachi was silent, afraid the mirage would disappear and he will wake up from the dream. He lay on the bed, facing the ceiling, his face blank. For the rest of the night Sasuke didn't say anything, but only sat on the edge of Itachi's bed.

Itachi couldn't believe how much Naruto had done for him. Not only did he help him forgive himself, but also helped his brother, saved him, brought him out of the nightmare his life must have been in the mental hospital.

One thought was on his mind before Itachi closed his eyes and drifted to sleep: he was deeply indebted to Naruto.

He was obliged to live with Naruto. They still didn't trust Itachi. Though it wasn't really important. Naruto was happy anyway. After all that had happened between them he wasn't sure that he'd be able to wait for another two weeks to meet the other man.

At nights though Naruto lay on his bed thinking if this was what Itachi would really want his life to be: never leaving the other's side, being watched, not trusted by the elders, not known to the villagers at all. Although they did spend most of the evenings, trying to rebuild the bond between the two brothers, Naruto couldn't shake off the feeling that Itachi would want more freedom.

"Can't sleep?" Itachi asked at one of those nights. Naruto shifted and turned to look at the other bed, where the man lay with his eyes closed. It was really unnecessary for him to open his eyes, since he couldn't see anyway, though at the daylight Itachi wouldn't close his eyes, because he insisted he could see the light.

"Just thinking" Naruto replied quietly.

"You're thinking every night, Naruto. Any sort of conclusion to your thoughts yet?" Itachi asked with a chuckle. Naruto smiled.

"I… I'm not sure if this is right" he said.

"What? Your life? Or my life?" the brunet asked him.

"Sometimes I think that there's something you lack in your life"

Itachi chuckled again and opened his eyes, directing them to the side of the room where Naruto was.

"You mean wife and kids?"

"Huh?" the other replied, shocked. Such a thought never occurred to Naruto and he hardly ever imagined even himself married to someone.

"If you want me to find a woman for you…" Naruto started but stopped himself. Somehow, it felt strange to share Itachi. Of course, there was no love or anything between them – Itachi was just a good friend, that's it – but just to share a friend with a woman, that will love him and touch him, and whom Itachi will love… But of course, Itachi was just a friend, nothing more, nothing less!

Naruto stood up from the bed and left the room. Itachi heard pacing in the kitchen and then how the front door opened and closed. A few minutes later Naruto came back, entered the bedroom and approached Itachi's bed.

Itachi was a formidable ninja, whom you could hardly surprise with anything. But when Naruto's lips touched his in a chaste kiss, he couldn't deny that he was surprised.

The blond man quickly pulled away and started apologizing and probably blushing. Itachi was bored with stupid words filling the air but serving absolutely no purpose, so he made Naruto shut up. He pulled him on himself again and kissed him.

"The only thing that I am unhappy about in my life is that I can't see you now. But that would be too perfect." He said.

They said the district was haunted. Not a single word was heard from the place, not a sound. It was just too silent. It was so silent you could almost feel the secret on your skin burning through it, getting to your bones and then to your soul. The air was too heavy to breathe; the silence was too heavy to listen.

The pain from the past will never disappear. The mistakes they made will never undo themselves. But with time pain dulls and mistakes are forgiven, so why should they renounce happiness when they have it?

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**uhhh... reviews?))))) was it boring?**


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